Watch: Is Rap Poetry?

Like a lot of suburban kids, I went through a phase. Driving to school in my beat up old Honda Civic blasting Onyx, Cypress Hill, and Run-DMC. Wanting to annoy everyone around me. Wanting to be edgy.

Never let a punk get away with murder

Gun shots, gun shots, all you heard-a

What's up? What's up? What's the word up?

Press your luck or buck another sucker just ducked

Rap had about as much relevance to my life in Centreville, Virginia as Beowulf, but I loved it. It was emotional. It was raw. Even then, I noticed in it the power of rhythm and rhyme and the power of witnessing. I can't say it had much to do with my becoming a poet, but it was where I got a first taste of the power of the word.

Even in the halls of academia, you'll hear whispers of admiration for rap. Watching an Eminem video with a fellow poet, she leaned in and confided, "I think he's kind of a genius." A poetry professor I know takes unabashed pride in his own rapping ability (I'm too nice to out him). But while poets can and should appreciate the power in rap, is it poetry?

It's the kind of question that makes poetry's gatekeepers spin in their office chairs, and it's easy to understand why. Comparing the two genres, there's a huge difference in artfulness and intent. It's hard to compare John Keats' meditations on the sublime to Nelly's meditations on sneakers, and Plath and P. Diddy just look silly together. At the same time--especially at a time when many consider poetry to be a dying art--I'm a proponent of its having a big tent.

Spoken word poetry offers something of a bridge between traditional poetry and rap, and some in the poetry establishment are trying to take advantage of it. One example of this is Poetry Out Loud, wherein high school students across the country memorize and recite poems. "We are taking the impulse of the electric popular culture and linking it to the masterpieces of poetry," poet Dana Gioia told the Washington Post. It's a smart way to try to get kids in the door. Spoken word is closer to rap than traditional poetry, but it's got a little of each genre in it. In case you've never heard it, here's an excerpt from "Penny For Your Thoughts" by a poet named Gemineye:

Can I offer you a penny for your thoughts?

As a matter of fact, how about three?

One penny for you, one penny for me,

And one penny for our minds engaged not so sexually.

Getting intimately closer as we approach the

Climactic altitude of nude, mental, sensational...conversation.

Because I'm trying to get to know everything about you

From the neck...UP.

So these are not your typical, sexual, poetical prose.

I'm trying to close the door on that all too familiar freaky foreplay game.

With which most guys have chose to approach you.

While they are trying to get deeply embedded

in the fine fibers of your bed sheets,

I'm trying to find and define the fibers of which your mind speaks.

I want to engage you

By putting a two karat solitaire diamond ON YOUR MIND

Marrying your every thought!

Some of the power of the poem comes across on the page. You get a sense of the musical effects. You can see the clever way Gemineye sexualizes his appreciation of his subject's intellect. But the poem is far, far stronger when it's spoken by the artist. It's meant to be performed. Watch the video:

So is L'il John a poet? Even the elbow-patched, pipe smoking variety should appreciate his rhythms, right? (from "Lovers and Friends")

But you ain't been nuttin' but a friend to me (shawty),

And a [****] never ever dreamed to be (shawty),

Up in here, kissin', huggin', squeezin', touchin' (shawty),

Up in the bathtub, rub-a-dubbin' (shawty),

Like I said, it's a big tent.

Comments

[Fotios]

poetry, language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationships between words on the basis of sound as well as sense: this pattern is almost always a rhythm or metre, which may be supplemented by rhyme or alliteration or both. The demands of verbal patterning usually make poetry a more condensed medium than prose or everyday speech, often involving variations in syntax, the use of special words and phrases ( poetic diction) peculiar to poets, and a more frequent and more elaborate use of figures of speech, principally metaphor and simile. All cultures have their poetry, using it for various purposes from sacred ritual to obscene insult, but it is generally employed in those utterances and writings that call for heightened intensity of emotion, dignity of expression, or subtlety of meditation. Poetry is valued for combining pleasures of sound with freshness of ideas, whether these be solemn or comical. Some critics make an evaluative distinction between poetry, which is elevated or inspired, and verse, which is merely clever or mechanical. The three major categories of poetry are narrative, dramatic, and lyric, the last being the most extensive.

-Oxford University Press

Those of you who will not consider any rap as poetry, must have a problem with black people. I see no other difference between classical poetry and good, thoughtful rap.

[unclesmedley]

I do not like dem
no I doesn't
I will not eat dem
no I ain't
I does not like green eggs and ham
I does not like dem, muthaf*****

Word to da dokta!

[eurydice]

It certainly is poetry. And structurally metric poetry at that. With complex internal rhyme schemes.

Some people are uncomfortable with the content, and thence lash out.

But, as another misunderstood and great poet of my generation has said:

"you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows",

and

"Get outa the new world if you can't lend a hand,
cause the times they are a changing!"

[IkeChicago]

Hip-Hop has a more profound effect than any other cultural phenomenon. I never thought I would see the day when I would say those words.

[Overd0g]

Of course it's poetry: very bad poetry.

[TheExperience]

This is such a worthless article. If Lil John and Nelly are the only examples you're gonna use, then no it's not gonna compare. But there are TONS of rappers out there that can blow your mind with their lyricism. Common, Mos Def, and Brother Ali are just a few examples of MC's with broad subject matter and a command of the spoken word that's unparalleled by any of the crap played on the radio.

If you're going to write an article that compares rap to poetry, do some research and find rappers that are ACTUAL poets; there ARE guys that are in it for the art & not just the quick buck

[itsme23]

As a poet AND Hip Hop artist...I began with poetry and let it evolve into the meaningful lyrics that hip hop is..was and always will be.

Hip Hop is not just some words..there IS deeper meaning...it is a way of life...period. However, there are those who don't respect it...who are in it for a fast buck...who don't get it ...not really. I will not call their names...but I don't think it's too hard to figure that out is it? Hip Hop is just as much a reality for me as is any poem that I have ever written. It is personal, it is simply...me.

If you have not lived someone else's story..or taken the time to honestly listen to what is being said and wonder WHY it's being said....than maybe that explains why it doesn't grab a hold of you the way that it does me. However, I would challenge you to look deeper....for the pain...the joy...the shames...the sorrows....they are there within the lyrics of many hip hop artists.... if you care to find them. The unfortunate part is that these are not the peole record company execs feel can bring a quick dollar...it's not profitable to hear a message....(so they say) so you hear the garbage instead. But there are MANY Hip Hop Generas...so don't lump them together...because you do yourself and the world a disservice when you do!

[RezidentBivrip]

http://www.hbo.com/defpoetry/

[cthomp7280]

"Rap" is another term for "conversation" or "to converse". It conveys a message. "Spoken Word" is poetry that is intended to be performed, not just read. Much spoken word is delivered over a drum, maybe a jazz band playing in the background, or even a few strings.

As is with any other artform; motion picture, srt, photography, or dance...the spectrum is broad enough to capture different styles, flavors, and intentions. As the writer stated at the end...it is a big tent.

I need no validation on it's poetic value. If it's poetry to me...then it's poetic indeed.

[RezidentBivrip]

Some rap is poetry, some is music to dance to, other rap is just a good beat to nod your head to, and some still is story telling. For as many ideas as there are, their can be a different style of rap. It varies a lot from one song to the next, and it varies from artist to artist as well.

Take someone like Eminem. An enigma, a white guy who thrives in a black ruled industry.

Take a song like Yellow Brick Road, it's storytelling at it's best. A mini biography of his life growing up.
Then you take a song like "The way I am" and it's pure poetry. Much more subliminal, yet with a point.
Then you have Mosh or White America, which are both as close to a political statement as he's ever made.
Then there's the nonsense raps like "My name is" or "Rain Man" Things with a good beat but no point at all.

Those are just a few songs from ONE artist that can be classified as many different things. So is rap poetry? Absolutely... and sometimes, absolutely not :)

[jubo]

Intriguingly there was just a bit about McGonegall, deemed 'worst poet of all time'. He was nevertheless a poet. (www.poetsgraves.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=48491)

Etymoligically speaking poetry is writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.

Subjective, ain't it?

[MoeJava]

R-eal
A-merican
P-oetry

Each generation has it's own words, it's own beat, it's own spirit.
The trick is to have a mind open enough to enjoy all of it.

We need to honor the past's efforts and celebrate the birth of new ones as well.
It's all good.

[unclesmedley]

no it ain't

[Fotios]

"ain't" isn't a word

[Rendon76]

The attitude of rap is corrupt now. People used to make some colorful raps with a range on a variety of topics in the 80's but now its more like "look at me I'm a big shit".

[UnknownSoldier]

yeah, and the same people that hated rap in the 80's still hate it today.

[Fotios]

there was gangsta rap in the 80s just like there is now. There was also poetic rap in the 80s just like now. Check out Mos Def.

[JasonPA]

I look forward to this blog and read it every Sunday and even return to it throughout the week. In fact, I'm also a fan of your poetry and look forward to your first book.

However, this particular blog is unfortunately shallow. On such a rich and misunderstood subject, we have here only a superficial reading without any attention paid to hip hop's roots in Afro-Caribbean youth culture, block parties, dancehall, graffiti, and break dancing. How does the convergence of these elements influence the rhythmic continuity of the verse?

There are too many stones unturned. What about the role of the female MC and ownership over sexuality through hip hop poetry? What about sampling within hip hop as compared with poets like Eliot? What about the role of the consumer market in the promotion of hip hop, and how does that influence writers and listeners (in a way that literary poetry does not have to deal with)? What prejudices have black artists historically faced (e.g., the case of Phillis Wheatley) and are these prejudices still alive in the current debate over hip hop's status as art? In short, why does hip hop need justification? And in a blog on hip hop poetry, there is no mention of The Last Poets, which seems the obvious point of reference.

It is unfortunate that this blog seems only to offer the "some good, some bad" conclusion that is unworthy of your usually deep and nuanced analysis.

[Forest]

---and I'm a granny. We find mysogyny in politics, in Fox New, in MSNBC, and in other retarded venues across this nation. At least with Rap, the agony and scapegoating mysogyny are put to a toe-tapping, rocking chair rolling beat.

[Counterglow]

If rap had continued down the trail blazed by groups like Public Enemy, it might have become poetry instead of verse. But angry black people with real grievances aren't something the powers that be in the music industry were comfortable with. So the next thing you know, we're hearing a bunch of strutting jackasses bragging about their money and their street cred and all the bitches lining up to give them a ride.

There are exceptions, of course, and they certainly are poets. But rap still has to get its soul back from the morons and halfwits who seem to be running the show. I'll freely admit that this isn't an area I know a lot about, but I was really blown away by some of the early rap, and terribly disappointed by what came after.

[Fotios]

Rap is an art form just like any other form of music. However, when the audience has poor taste, they gravitate towards crappy music. There are good musicians and good rappers out there, but "pop culture" favors crap.

[Forest]

Of course rap is poetry, and more.

[MagisterLudi]

Or less :-)